If you have ever been a new parent at a school that
encourages involvement, or a newly arrived member of an association that needs
volunteers, I can guarantee you that some old timer there has looked you over
with raised-eyebrow interest and thought “Fresh meat!” I did it.
We all do it. (And if you look
particularly intelligent and amenable, we practically knock each other over
after the event to sucker you in talk to you first!) I
have learned over the years to tread lightly when entering a PTA meeting or
association coffee morning for the first few times. My advice is to get the lay of the land, so
to speak, before looking like you might have some skill or talent to
offer. And definitely DO NOT raise your
hand. You may just be asking a question,
but that looks way too much like interest and the next thing you know, you are
in charge of their magazine. Or sitting
on the executive board. Or both.
I have been in Cairo three months now and laying low. But I do want to get involved and make
friends. So when the sweetest lady, with grey hair that flips up endearingly
at the ends in the most Mary Tyler Moore of ways, invited me to join what she called the
Benevolence Committee, I said yes!
We met in one of the rooms at St. John’s Church
(which shares the premises with the Maadi Community Church) on Wednesday and
sorted out bags and bags of donations into boxes labeled by size and
gender: infant, little girl, big girl,
women, little boy, big boy and men.
Then, according to the master list and some algorithm which made my math
phobic soul cringe, we divided the boxes into piles dedicated to each orphanage/organization/home
for the mentally or physically disabled it would go to. Some have little girls, some have big girls,
some have both, etc. The label might
read La Providence – 1 BG, 2LG – which means they got one box of clothes for
pre-teens and teenage girls and two boxes of clothes for smaller girls from
ages 2-10.
Here is the incredible thing. When we had finished dividing it all up, I
counted 34 piles of two or more boxes!
Then we added 15 kilos of pasta and 10 kilos of beans to each pile, plus
two more. (Two homes didn’t request
clothing, but they still received the food.)
As the representatives came to pick up the donations, they were invited
to enjoy some home-baked goodies and soft drinks.
There were also cash donations towards summer camp expenses for those
who had requested them.
As you can
imagine, there were smiles all round. But hardly any broader than those of the
volunteers.
In the spirit of being small part of the Egyptian community Wednesday, I’d like to share with you a traditional recipe, another one I have
adapted from Apricots on the Nile by Colette
Rossant. I am serving two here but this could be easily doubled or trebled.
Ingredients
1lb or 450g beef or veal, sliced thinly into four pieces
2 good handfuls of fresh parsley or cilantro (coriander) or a mix of the
two
3/4 oz or 20g of Kashkaval or cheddar cheese
3/4 oz or 20g of crumbled goat cheese
Black pepper
Sea salt
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 cups or 360ml beef stock (made from a stock cube if
fine)
Olive oil
1/8 cup or 15g flour
Method
Use a flat-sided mallet or the bottom of a frying pan to
flatten the meat out even thinner than it already is. Putting it between two pieces of plastic
keeps the mess to a minimum. Some
butchers will do this for you. Mine did
a little bit but then I flattened it some more at home.
Grate/crumble your cheese and chop your herb of choice. Using a light hand or a fork, mix the herbs
and cheeses. Add a good couple of grinds
of fresh black pepper.
Divide the cheese/herb mixture between your pieces of meat
and cover somewhat evenly.
Roll the meat up and secure with some kitchen string and a
knot at either end. Continue till you
have done all four meat rolls.
Chop your onion and garlic put them in a bowl just big
enough on the bottom to hold your meat rolls.
Put the meat rolls in the marinade and spoon some juice and
onion over their tops. I used veal so I
only marinated it for an hour but you could leave the rolls in the marinade up
to two hours for beef.
Turn them over
occasionally and redistribute the onions over their tops.
When marinating time is almost up, preheat your oven to 350°F
or 180°C.
Heat a non-stick skillet and give it a little drizzle of
olive oil. Brown your rolls on all sides
and remove to a small baking dish.
Add a couple of more tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and
then the flour. Stir this around until
all the lumps are gone.
 |
| It's a roux, folks. |
Turn the heat down to a low simmer then add in the marinade.
Add in the remaining beef stock, whisking if necessary to avoid lumps. Stir until the onions are a little cooked and the gravy thickens.
Spoon this over the meat rolls and then bake them in the
oven for 20-30 minutes.
Your gravy
should darken slightly and be really bubbling and then, the meat rolls are ready.
|
| I drizzled the meat rolls with a little olive oil. The gravy really isn't oily. And then I completely COVERED the potatoes with more onion gravy. After the photo was taken. Divine. |
Enjoy!
N.B. If you live in Cairo, we will be collecting used
clothes again in the Fall, but if you are moving away this Summer, please let me
know. The church has storage room for
donated goods, including clothes, small household items and shoes. I can assure you that your things will find
needy homes.
